UN says Japan must further empower women to increase birth rate

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said that if Japan wants to counter the greying of its population and increase the birth rate, they must give more rights to women in the workplace to give them more confidence to balance child rearing and working. Another thing the government has to promote is more active participation for men in raising children.

Babatunde Osotimehin, the UNFPA’s executive director, said that it is important to assure women that they still have a place in the workforce even after taking a leave to give birth to a child. It is also crucial to have laws and regulations that will ensure that when they take a leave, they will not lose anything and that their careers can still advance if they choose to balance both work and child-rearing. He says that to achieve this, both the public and private sector should work together. In their work with other countries, they encourage governments to cooperate with the private sector to provide and promote means so that the company can balance labor force participation and parenthood for women who choose to do both. He also encourages a system that will encourage men to participate more in child rearing, like what is happening in Denmark, Sweden, France and Britain where paternity leaves have been incorporated in corporations.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed to make women a more integral part of society, as he made their participation in all aspects part of his economic growth plan for the next seven years. He is making it a goal to have women fill up 30% of senior positions in all aspects of society by 2020. There have been a few improvements, as the recent survey shows that women in executive positions have increased from 1.5% the previous year, to 1.8% to date. However, things are still moving too slowly for the world’s third largest economy, partly because of several cultural and gender-related factors.

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Far East

アタリマエ！なんだけどおやじありすぎ、日本に。

PandaWatch

“That’s right ladies, start cranking them out” – says UN

Whirled Peas

And don’t forget quality daycare. A two-income family with children cannot function without reliable childcare.

Michael Craig

Finally, the UN has the right plan for Japan! Career and motherhood!

And Dads can help out, too!

EvigtRegn

Yeah because it has worked out so well in the west *irony*. Our birth rates are way too low as well and 50/50 labor market division has not solved a thing. Women prioritizing career over family does not increase birth rate. Instead it decreases it since the women start comparing themselves to the men, having dreams about career, and quicker than you know, you’re too old to have more children.

Phil Hartman

I imagine the number of women who are not having children because they are afraid of leaving a career is quite small. Probably far more women in Japan aren’t having kids because their paycheck barely covers their expenses and they can’t imagine supporting a child too.

I would prefer to stay anonymo

because of the low birth rate, the government offers to pay the child’s school expenses up until high school and pays their parents to have children. I’m fairly sure that money is not the problem.

Phil Hartman

Such benefits are often exaggerated. Canada also provides support to families with children. $100 a month for each child until its 18. Great. That’ll just about cover the cell phone bill.

EvigtRegn

So they advice Japan to do what has not been working in the west at all. Seems legitimate… (*not*). The west has dire problems with shrinking birth rates as well and many of “our” women work outside the home as much as the men. It has not solved anything at all. Quite the opposite. Since they are to work, they have to go to university which means they are not financially ready to have a baby until about age 25 at the very earliest, and de facto, it becomes age 30-35 for most women. Of course we only end up with 1 child per family then which is way below replacement levels.

It is really with immigration that they try to solve their problems in the west but it is not a sustainable solution since it transforms the entire country and the natives become minorities in their own countries in a rapid pace. It has also led to a lot of increased crime, conflict and political stand stills.

So what is the solution? To increase birth rate. How do we do that? No one seems to know.

Phil Hartman

Lots of ways to increase the birth rate, none of which are possible in modern democracies because women won’t like them and women are a powerful voting block.

I would start with post-secondary education. Way too many people go to university than society has need for. 60% of these people are women in their prime studying for a job they’ll never get and not reproducing. If we drastically limit the number of people who can attend university then that’ll leave a lot more unoccupied fertile women who will likely move into motherhood.

EvigtRegn

Well written and with a plan that may work. Just need to figure out a way so new private universities aren’t created en masse to fill the demand. Also, some may then choose to go abroad to study but it would likely be a minority that would go that far.

Phil Hartman

We shouldn’t forget that the government-backed students loans are what’s fueling mass enrollment. Such loans aren’t available for out of country schools so there shouldn’t be a problem of people going abroad for education among the middle class. Not that I’m against such loans per se. In my own case, I was only able to get my B.A. with government help. But it shouldn’t be unlimited and undiscriminating. Create an entrance exam and provide loans and subsidies to the top 20%. Let everyone else figure out their own way to pay. That would limit enrollment while also making sure the best and brightest get an education. But of course such sorting is hated in our “everybody’s equal” states. I could see it happening in Asia though.

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